Abstract

Carbon nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers and graphene, featuring functional properties and tailored nanoscale dimensions have been widely used in different research fields, especially for catalysis and sustainable chemistry. Hierarchically structured reactors, combining nanoscopic coating carbon layers to disperse the active phase or even directly as metal-free catalysts, with controlled macroscopic shapes, have been extensively developed over the last few decades for numerous relevant catalytic processes, where mass and heat transfer is easily optimized for better catalytic performance and stability. The 3D structuration enables the full exploitation of the intrinsic activity of the catalyst and its industrial deployment without drawbacks linked with nanomaterials. In this review article, we will summarize the recent developments involved in the field of hierarchically structured reactors, i.e. monoliths, foam and other materials, containing carbon nanomaterials. It is expected that such structured reactors will receive high scientific and industrial interest in the future not only in the field of catalysis but also in those linked with wastewater purification or aerosol filtration processes. It will also be evidenced how hierarchically structured materials have contributed to the intensification of catalytic processes compared to conventional reactors, thus paving the way to the enhancement of other chemical reactions and their industrial deployment.

Authors contributing to RSC publications (journal articles, books or book chapters)
do not need to formally request permission to reproduce material contained in this
article provided that the correct acknowledgement is given with the reproduced material.

Reproduced material should be attributed as follows:

For reproduction of material from NJC:
Reproduced from Ref. XX with permission from the Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique (CNRS) and The Royal Society of Chemistry.

For reproduction of material from PCCP:
Reproduced from Ref. XX with permission from the PCCP Owner Societies.

For reproduction of material from PPS:
Reproduced from Ref. XX with permission from the European Society for Photobiology,
the European Photochemistry Association, and The Royal Society of Chemistry.

For reproduction of material from all other RSC journals and books:
Reproduced from Ref. XX with permission from The Royal Society of Chemistry.

If the material has been adapted instead of reproduced from the original RSC publication
"Reproduced from" can be substituted with "Adapted from".

In all cases the Ref. XX is the XXth reference in the list of references.

If you are the author of this article you do not need to formally request permission
to reproduce figures, diagrams etc. contained in this article in third party publications
or in a thesis or dissertation provided that the correct acknowledgement is given
with the reproduced material.

Reproduced material should be attributed as follows:

For reproduction of material from NJC:
[Original citation] - Reproduced by permission of The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) on behalf of the
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the RSC

For reproduction of material from PCCP:
[Original citation] - Reproduced by permission of the PCCP Owner Societies

For reproduction of material from PPS:
[Original citation] - Reproduced by permission of The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) on behalf of the
European Society for Photobiology, the European Photochemistry Association, and
RSC

For reproduction of material from all other RSC journals:
[Original citation] - Reproduced by permission of The Royal Society of Chemistry

If you are the author of this article you still need to obtain permission to reproduce
the whole article in a third party publication with the exception of reproduction
of the whole article in a thesis or dissertation.

Information about reproducing material from RSC articles with different licences
is available on our Permission Requests page.